Rise of social media leads to record one million calls for help to Lifeline

Social media is aimed at helping people communicate, but the lack of face to face contact is leaving some feeling more isolated than ever.

Lifeline chief executive Pete Shmigel says social media has contributed to a record-breaking year for the charity group, with 2015 marking the first time they received over one million requests for help.

"We've seen the restructuring of the conventional way of our society. We don't know the neighbours on our own streets ... and at the same time you're getting this amazing phenomenon called social media, which I believe has the capacity to accelerate those senses of loneliness and isolation," Mr Shmigel told Fairfax Media.

"The more connected we are online, physically we don't have time to be connected in real life, and that goes against the grain of hundreds of thousands of years of human experience.

"We've been in families and we've been in communities because we need direct, real, human, sticky, gooey, social contact. It's what keeps us well."

In 2015, Lifeline received 977,503 calls - 831,849 of which were answered - and 44,470 online chat requests.

Mr Shmigel also said the crisis support service was aiming to secure funds to create a complementary text-based service that could be used to check in on people following a suicide attempt.